Applied Intelligence 24, 3142, 2006

c 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. Manufactured in The Netherlands.

Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm for Optimal Distribution
Systems Reinforcement Strategy

S. FAVUZZA
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e delle Telecomunicazioni, Universita di Palermo, Italia

G. GRADITI
Centro ricerche ENEA, Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, lEnergia e lAmbiente, Portici, Napoli, Italia

E. RIVA SANSEVERINO
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e delle Telecomunicazioni, Universita di Palermo, Italia

Abstract. The metaheuristic technique of Ant Colony Search has been revised here in order to deal with dynamic search
optimization problems having a large search space and mixed integer variables. The problem to which it has been applied is
an electrical distribution systems management problem. This kind of issues is indeed getting increasingly complicated due
to the introduction of new energy trading strategies, new environmental constraints and new technologies. In particular, in
this paper, the problem of finding the optimal reinforcement strategy to provide reliable and economic service to customers
in a given time frame is investigated. Utilities indeed need efficient software tools to take decisions in this new complex
scenario. In past times, utilities project the load growth for several years and then estimate when the capacity limit will
be exceeded. Designers then consider some feasible alternatives and select the optimal one in terms of performance and
costs. In this paper, the Distributed Generation, DG, technology considered in compound solutions with the installation of
feeder and substations is viewed as a new option for solving distribution systems capacity problems, along several years. The
objective to be minimized is therefore the overall cost of distribution systems reinforcement strategy in a given timeframe.
An application on a medium size network is carried out using the proposed technique that allows the identification of optimal
paths in extremely large or non-finite spaces. The proposed algorithm uses an adaptive parameter in order to push exploration
or exploitation as the search procedure stops in a local minimum. The algorithm allows the easy investigation of these kinds
of complex problems, and allows to make useful comparisons as the intervention strategy and type of DG sources vary.

Keywords: ant colony search, dynamic optimization problems, electrical distribution systems

1. Introduction
Metaheuristics and heuristic methods have been extensively
used in the field of power optimization problems and in gen-
eral in electrical engineering. Indeed, these methods allow
a more accurate formulation of the problem and the attain-
ment of results in reasonable computation times. On the
other hand, special attention must be paid to the choice of
the appropriate method, depending on the particular features
of the problem at hand. In power systems, heuristic methods
offer a viable alternative to classical optimization techniques
to face complicated problems and to attain general guide-
lines for design and management of electrical systems.
In particular the Ant Colony Optimization paradigm,
which is a relatively new algorithm [1, 2] for the solution of
combinatorial optimization problems, has been used in the
field of power systems, to solve different problems.
In [3, 4], the Authors use the ACO, Ant Colony Opti-
mization, to solve the generation unit commitment problem.
They have created a discrete search space, by considering
a multi-stage scheduling and a suitable transition cost from
one stage to the other. In this case, the problem was to iden-
tify the output level of a given set of units in a time frame of
24 h. Test runs have been carried out in both papers to make
a comparison between the Ant Colony approach and other
methods (a dynamic programming approach, a Lagrangian
relaxation method and a Genetic algorithm). In all cases the
Ant Colony approach has given better results. In both papers
a constructive approach is used and the solution is actually
created by each ant.
Another power systems problem dealt with by means of
the same paradigm is that of the switch relocation problem.
In [5] the Authors minimize the interruption costs for dis-
tribution feeders by rearranging the existent switches. The
32 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino
customer interruption cost indeed depends on the amount of
load disconnected during an outage, if there is no possibility
to supply it from another source point. In this way, the search
space is again arranged in stages and, at each stage, a new
switch is newly positioned. Therefore, the search space is
constituted by a number of nodes equivalent to the number
of switches multiplied by the number of candidate locations
of the same switches. Each ant will rearrange one switch at
each stage. The approach essentially tries to improve the
starting solution.
Finally in [6] the economic dispatch problem is consid-
ered. The Authors try to minimize the operating cost of the
power system based on the power output of the generation
units and subjected to some technical and economical con-
straints. The constraints are included into the main objective
function as penalty terms and the optimization is carried out
trying to improve a randomly selected but feasible solution.
A parameter allowing to control the scale of the exploration
called visibility is introduced. The algorithm also uses el-
ements of neighborhood search and of the Genetic algo-
rithms search and the solution is actually searched by each
ant which in this case acts like a search agent. So again the
approach tries to improve the solution.
Other papers, such as [7], use the ACO paradigm to carry
out the optimization of functions by interesting construc-
tive approaches. None of the above cited papers uses a
constructive approach in a non-finite or extremely large
space at each stage. In the present paper, the authors try
to solve a dynamic optimization problem such as the re-
inforcement of electrical distribution systems, by dividing
the search space in stages. Each stage, this time, represents
a possible intervention on the system at a given year. The
intervention consists of the installation of one or more ele-
ments in order to increase the electrical systems capacity,
namely the ability of the system to supply a larger amount
of electric load. Thus in this problem it is required to solve
an optimization sub-problem at each stage, even though the
overall optimization requires the search for the minimum
cost strategy in the considered time-frame.
Each ant tour represents a strategy that can be followed.
At each stage, the ant itself creates a set of candidate nodes
related to the subsequent stage. The nodes are possible sce-
narios of new installations, in which the minimum condition
of supplying the entire load is satisfied. The ant can choose
the next node among the newly created ones and a set of
existing nodes, created by ants that had previously gone
through the same path. Of course, the generation of this set
is guided by some criteria, in order to guarantee a good ex-
ploration of the search space at that considered stage. During
its tour, the ant leaves a trace of pheromone on the path it has
gone through. This path is kept in memory using a dynamic
search tree that keeps track of all the visited routes. The
search tree dimension is limited by the branching level of
the tree and the number of stages/interventions considered.
Each time an ant has to decide the following node, it cre-
ates a set of new candidate scenarios and the choice is made
among the set comprising the existing paths and this new
set. Another feature that distinguishes the present approach
from the standard ACS is the adoption of an adaptive, in-
stead of fixed, parameter, q0 , which rules the elitism of the
algorithm. Each time the ant has to choose the following
node, this can be done either on a deterministic base or on
a probabilistic base and the choice of the criterion is guided
by the parameter q0 .
2. The Problem of Distribution Systems
Reinforcement Planning
The identification of a good reinforcement strategy in order
to supply reliable and economical service to customers is a
huge problem for distribution utilities. Traditionally plan-
ners start thinking about new capacity only when the load
reaches a certain level; then, only a few options is considered
and these are restricted to substations or feeders reinforce-
ment. This methodology works when the economic envi-
ronment is stable and the number of technically available
options is limited. The new deregulated energy market and
the new important issues concerning sustainable develop-
ment make the environment change rapidly and technology
provides new viable options for the task of expanding the
systems capacity. In this paper, the problem of identifying
the best network reinforcement strategy along a given time-
frame is dealt using a new formulation. The installation of
Dispersed Generation units, and in particular renewables
(Photovoltaic units), is considered as a viable alternative to
traditional network reinforcement methods, such as cables
and substation transformers installation. This is valid under
the hypothesis that the loading peaks occur during the maxi-
mum insulation hours. In this formulation, the reinforcement
consists in introducing parallel Medium Voltage, MV, cables
and Medium Voltage/Low Voltage, MV/LV, transformers as
well as PV, Photovoltaic, units at LV level. Moreover, since
cables are installed underground, it has been hypothesized
that they cannot be overloaded. Figure 1 shows a generic
MV/LV load node of the considered system. In the figure,
OT is the Old Transformer, whereas RT is the Reinforcement
Transformer. Therefore, the problem here dealt with results
in a combinatorial optimization problem, where the main ob-
jective is that of minimizing the overall cost while meeting
some technical constraints such as the voltage drop limita-
tion and the elements capacity consideration. The overall
cost can be expressed as the summation of different terms.
Some are installation costs, others are operational costs such
as losses and maintenance costs. In addition, also exter-
nal costs such as incentives for the production of energy
from renewables (clean energy) have been considered. In
what follows, all the cost terms are described in detail. In
the present formulation of the posed problem, for a given
load factor increase,
L, each node at the LV level can be
equipped with distributed Photovoltaic, PV, systems and the
capacity of each branch can be multiplied by installing some
 Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm 33

Figure 1. A generic MV/LV node of the distribution system, at time t, on the left, and at time t +
t, on the right, with a load increase and with all the
possible reinforcement means.

other cables in parallel with the existing ones. As a conse- (c1) Installation cost
quence, in the latter case, the capacity of each substation
can be multiplied by installing other transformers in paral- C3 = C Sk (An k ) [ ] (5)
lel with the existing ones. It must be considered that the re-
quired number of interventions depends on the load course. where C Sk [ ] is the cost of the required transformer
In this paper, the load evolves with the following exponential having rated power Ank [kVA].
law: (c2) Maintenance cost per year; for all transformers is
evaluated as:
P(t) = P0 (1 + r )t (1)
Cman TR = cman TR n tr [ ] (6)
where P0 is the rated load required by the customers at year
0, P(t) is the expected load at year t and r is the rate of where n tr is the number of transformers; cman TR is
increase of the loads. here 600 .
In what follows, the different cost terms are described. (d) The losses cost can be expressed as:

(a) The PV systems installation cost: C4 = C P Er [ ] (7)

C1 = C P V PP V [ ] (2) where C P [ /kWh] is the cost of losses per kWh and

where, C P V [ /kW] is the cost per kW and P P V [kW]
is the rated real power of the PV system.
(b) The cables cost can be expressed as:
(b1) Installation cost:
Er[kWh] are the total energy losses evaluated in one
year. C P is here set to 0.05 /kWh.
(e) Savings due to PV systems installations. Two terms must
be considered:
(e1) Savings from not buying energy from the transmis-
sion level; per year:

C2 = CCa (I ) L [ ] (3) R1 = Renergy PPV (8)

where CCa [ /km] is the cost of the cable for a given where Renergy is equal to 6.5 /kW and has been
capacity I [A] and length L [km]. obtained considering that the cost of 1 kg of fuel is
(b2) Maintenance costs per year: 0.02 .
(e2) Incentives for those who produce from renewables:
Cman cables = cman L [ ] (4)

cman is here 70 /km. R2 = Rc PPV (9)

(c) The MV/LV substation transformer cost can be ex- where Rc can range between 43.8 /kW and 820
pressed as: /kW. The variation of this parameter allows the
34 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino
identification of a threshold value above which the
massive installation of PV units is economically con-
venient.
3. The Objective Function
The objective function is the overall cost. The overall yearly
cost can be therefore obtained as the summation of the dif-
ferent terms above described:
CTOT = (C1 + C2 + C3 ) (e) + C4 + Cman
cables
+ Cman TR + C man PV (R1 + R2 )
where the different cost or saving terms have been defined
in Section 2 above; e is the rate (7%) for the calculation
of the yearly cost. The constraints concern voltage drop
within limits and current below branches capacity. Another
constraint requires that all the loads have to be supplied.
A single solution is coded into a string having two times
the number of branches elements (br), so that each couple of
elements is related to one branch and to its ending bus. The
solution string is therefore a vector composed as follows:
[S1 , P1 , S2 , P2 , . . . Sbr , Pbr ]
where Si [mm2 ] is the section of the reinforcement cable at
the i-th branch, Pi [kW] is the sizing power of the PV plants
below the i-th node.
Each of these elements can vary in a discrete fashion
among a set of possible available sizes.
The optimisation problem here dealt with is then a com-
binatorial optimization problem; therefore the fitness can be
expressed as the inverse of the cost function terms (10), cal-
culated at each intervention in terms of the new installations,
actualized at year 0 and summed up.
In [9] the Authors have focused their attention on the
definition of the minimum cost reinforcement plan with
a simplified objective function and with an algorithm, the
Evolutionary Parallel Tabu Search, which was suitable for
static combinatorial optimization. In this paper, the Authors
propose a dynamic design strategy derived from the ACO
paradigm. It is aimed at the optimisation of the expansion
strategy of a distribution system through a discrete number
of interventions within a time frame of 24 years with refer-
ence to a given course of load increase in the served area.
The solution of this problem requires the identification of
the optimal expansion strategy for the system. The problem
is combinatorial and non-linear.
4. The Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm
The ACS algorithm, proposed by Dorigo and Gambardella
[2], is an algorithm simulating the behaviour of natural ant
colonies. The algorithm uses a set of agents which cooper-
ate for the research of new solutions acting simultaneously.
This algorithm has been applied to different problems in en-
gineering, in particular to those applications where a length
measure must be optimized such as in the Traveling Sales-
man Problem, (TSP).1 This algorithm has rarely been ap-
plied for optimization strategy problems. However there are
some papers regarding this aspect for different engineering
fields [4, 10].
The natural metaphor for ant algorithms is ant colonies.
Real ants find the shortest path from a food source to their
nest, without using visual cues, by exploiting pheromone
information. While the ants go towards the food, each ant
deposits on the ground a certain quantity of pheromone,
(10) which can be recognized by the other ants, and continues its
tour. At the beginning all the ants move randomly. When the
pheromone evaporates, the traces that can still be recognized
are those that have been left on the shortest paths since they
can be followed more rapidly. In this way, the number of
ants that choose to go through the shortest paths grows and
the pheromone trace gets stronger as more ants follow it [2].
The ACS algorithm has been presented and first imple-
mented for the Traveling Salesman Problem, TSP, since
there is an explicit similarity between the tour length in
the problem and the ants path length.
The key to the application of the ACS to a new problem
(11) is to identify an appropriate representation for the prob-
lem, namely an appropriate spatialization. The latter can be
attained by means of a graph representation (when it is pos-
sible) of the considered engineering problem. Any solution
must also be represented by means of a tour through the
edges of the graph.
Besides a suitable expression of the distance between any
two nodes of the graph must also be determined. Then the
probabilistic interaction among the artificial ants mediated
by the pheromone trial deposited on the graph edges will
generate good, and often optimal, problem solutions.
Some problem may arise when the spatialization is not
straightforward, namely, when other physical measures have
to be turned into distances.
In the application here proposed, the different reinforced
configurations of the electrical system at different years
(with the relevant load factor) represent the nodes of the
graph, the distances between them are transition costs, suit-
ably actualized in order to make them comparable at year
zero. The transition costs are the installation and operating
costs to expand the system from the current configuration
to another to be reached in the following time.
The problem of identifying the best reinforcement strat-
egy of distribution systems has been here dealt with by look-
ing for an analogue with the TSP. It is essentially a minimum
cost tour problem but it is different from the TSP problem,
since there is not a unique set of points to be visited for
a single solution, but there may be infinite possible paths
through different points.
One of the key differences with traditional ACS is that
the algorithm dynamically creates new candidate solutions
and eliminates unpromising search directions.

In this way, at each year a number of candidate solutions is
identified. It is realistic to assume that utilities do not operate
each year but they carry out interventions only every n years
years. A solution strategy is therefore a tour comprising
all the systems configurations between year zero and year
24 with T intervals of n years years; the cost of a strategy is
the summation of the transition costs in the considered time
horizon. These costs have all been actualized in order to
make different strategies comparable. The distance between
two solutions, namely between configuration r, related to
year i (jn years) and configuration s related to year j, is
given by d(r,s) defined as follows:


j j
CTOT ni (r, s)
d(r, s) = (12)
k= jn years
(1 + a)k
j
where CTOT ni (r, s) is the new installations, external, main-
tenance and losses costs for configuration s at year j, when
it evolves from configuration r at year jn years and a is the
actualization rate.
The following quantities are used in the algorithm:
(r, s) is the pheromone amount between configurations
r and s;
Mk is the set of configurations that have been identified
for the year configuration r belongs to;
is the parameter weighting the importance of the tran-
sition cost from configuration r to configuration s;
is the pheromone updating parameter, ruling its decay
and its reinforcement;
0 is the pheromone initialization value which is given
to any possible tuple such as (r, s);
n ants is the number of ants constituting the artificial
colony.
Configuration s that follows the starting configuration r
is identified by means of the following law, if q q0 :
s = arg max ( (r, s) (r, s) ) (13)
u M
/ k
where q [0, 1] is a random number and q0 [0, 1] is a
parameter allowing to regulate the elitism of the algorithm,
namely to establish a compromise between exploration and
exploitation of the search space. Indeed, if q0 is very close
to the unity it is highly possible that the random parameter
q is lower than q0 and therefore that configuration s is the
maximum of the function ( (r, s) (r, s) ).
If q > q0 configuration s is chosen following the proba-
bilistic law:
 (r, s) (r, s)
if s
/ Mk
pk (r, s) = / k (r, u) (r, u)
u M
0 otherwise
(14)
Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm 35
The probability that the k-th ant moves towards a configu-
ration of the same year must be zero, whereas a biased law
has been used to select the solution towards which the ant
shall move.
In this paper, parameter q0 varies adaptively with the con-
dition of flattening on the currently found best solution. The
law with which it varies is reported below:
q0 = qbase + (flat + y)1 (15)
where qbase is the lowest value that the parameter q0 can
reach, flat is the number of iterations without improvement
and y sets the maximum value for q0 .
The parameter flat is limited and when it reaches a certain
maximum value the algorithm can be stopped. When this
parameter is high, the parameter q0 gets the lowest possible
value, whereas when flat is zero it takes the maximum value.
The maximum possible value for q0 also depends on y. If this
is set to 1, and qbase is necessarily set to zero, the maximum
value for q0 is 1.
As it can be noted, as the number of iterations without
improvement, flat, grows, the parameter q0 controlling the
elitism of the algorithm decays, thus allowing a larger ex-
ploration of the search space.
The local updating of the pheromone is applied to the
traveled paths. This mechanism is used to prevent prema-
ture convergence and simulate the natural phenomenon of
evaporation; it is executed by means of the function:
(r, s) = (1 ) (r, s) + a0 (16)
where the symbols have been above defined.
Global updating is executed when all ants have completed
an entire tour for exploration and it is aimed at the reinforce-
ment of the pheromone of those transitions (r, s) belonging
to the best tour, namely to the minimum cost strategy. It is
performed using the function:
1
(1 ) (r, s) + L gb if (r, s) global
(r, s) = best tour
(1 ) (r, s)
otherwise
(17)
where Lgb is the length or the cost of the best strategy
which has been identified at the end of one iteration.
n

edges
L gb = min
k=1,...n ants
l=1
 
Ctot(l) Ctot(l1) (1 + a)l1 (18)
k k
where:
n edges is the total number of edges of the k-th path
(ant);
l1 is the year in which new installations related to the
configuration l have been executed;
36 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino
n ants is the number of ants constituting the artificial
colony.
Note that, when l equals the total number of edges of the
considered path, the ant has reached the target configuration
and the strategy is complete, therefore expression (18) gives
the cost of the entire strategy actualized at the starting year.
In this way, the pheromone of the transitions belonging
to the best tour is increased whereas the pheromone of other
transitions is decreased. The local updating encourages the
exploration of the search space because it prevents prema-
ture convergence, whereas global updating encourages the
exploitation of the most promising solutions, namely the
overall less costly solutions.
In traditional ACS algorithm a number of ants start explor-
ing the search space which is constituted by a finite number
of points. Then they gradually converge towards the best
path. When the search space of the faced problem is intrin-
sically of finite type, as in the TSP, the algorithm works quite
well. When instead a spatialization (discretization or the
reduction of the search space dimension) of the problem is
required, the above cited approach may be no more valuable.
Indeed, it is well known that in these cases, the attempts of
reducing the search space dimensions may bring to mislead-
ing results. Real ants indeed move randomly before finding
the optimal way from their nest to the food. They do not have
discrete points in the search space through which they move.
This happens especially at the beginning. After some time,
the ants go one after the other towards the food, because of
the mechanism of the pheromone release. This is the idea
behind the proposed algorithm, called Dynamic Ant Colony
Search, DACS, algorithm. From the programming point of
view, it has been implemented using dynamic data struc-
tures, such as a dynamic tree, representing the ideal paths
over which the ants have moved. The pheromone release
mechanism allows the identification of good traces and in
the end an increasing number of ants will tend to go through
these paths. In this representation of the problem, the depth
of the tree is the timing at which the interventions over the
distribution system are carried out, see Fig. 2. So the maxi-
mum depth of the tree is fixed by the user. Since the overall
time frame in which the strategy is designed is also fixed,
the number of years between one intervention and the other
is also known.
The basic hypothesis is that components are installed in
order to face the load increase relevant to the following time
interval and at the beginning of the same time interval. More-
over expenses are amortized in 24 years. Each branch of the
tree represents the move from one year to n years later; it
is weighted with the operational costs and with the cost of
possible installations of new components or with the cost
of the yearly amortization expense of components already
installed.
The algorithm starts with the generation of a given number
of candidate solutions, N, each of which is created accord-
ingly with a given percentage of penetration of the Pho-
Figure 2. Dynamic tree representing the different strategies, p ranges
from 0 to T.
tovoltaic plants. In this way, in the first solution, a value
randomly chosen between 0 and the 100/N % of the load in-
crease will be covered with PV plants, in the second solution
a value randomly chosen between 100/N % and 200/N%,
and so on.
Then the ant performs a choice among the candidate so-
lutions using expressions (13) and (14).
The local pheromone updating is performed using expres-
sion (16), and the solutions that have not been chosen are
abandoned. A new set of solutions hypothesizing a different
penetration of PV plants is again considered and so on, till
the last year. Then the second ant starts again from year zero
and finds a pheromone trace of the ant that has just passed.
So it generates again N new solutions, different from the
previous one, and the choice is made among N + 1 candi-
date solutions, because of the existing path. In the following
years the second ant will find N candidate solutions, if the
node from which it comes is newly created, otherwise, it
finds N + 1 candidate solutions, N newly generated and 1
belonging to the path chosen by the first ant. At the end of
the iteration, all the ants have gone through the 24 years
and probably have generated a number of new nodes. The
maximum possible number of nodes of the dynamic tree
containing the traces is of order NT , where T is the number
of intervals of n years.
Of course N is variable and can be set by the user. It
defines the precision with which the algorithm can work out
a solution. But on the other hand, the opportunity to generate
a new set of solutions at each step gives some confidence
about finding the solution with appropriate diversification.
Also T is variable and can be set by the user, but it is a
design variable since the timing with which interventions
can be carried out on the system is also a design choice.
When the ant finds N existing paths it can still generate
N new solutions with different PV penetrations and it will
again activate the selection using expressions (13) and (14).
If an existing path is selected, the pheromone trace is mod-
ified according to equation (16), if instead a new trace is
selected; the worst, in terms of pheromone and cost, among

the old paths is selected and eliminated, together with the
branches and nodes downstream, and replaced with the new
chosen trace. The pheromone trace is then modified accord-
ing to Eq. (16).
In Fig. 3 the flowchart of the DACS is reported.
5. Applications
The studied system is a radial power distribution network
with 20 kV of rated voltage.
It has 23 branches and 23 load nodes as depicted in Fig. 4.
Each load node is represented in Fig. 1. The distribution
system loads are supplied by one High Voltage/Medium
Voltage, HV/MV, substation and two main feeders. The re-
inforcement strategy is carried out in a time frame of 24 years
and with interventions that can be executed every n years
years. The yearly rate of increase of the loads, r, is 0.03. The
used load model is with constant power and the algorithm
to solve the network is a backward-forward algorithm.
The runs have been carried out using the parameters re-
ported in Table 1.
In Table 1 is the pheromone updating parameter, ruling
its decay and its reinforcement, is the parameter weighting
the importance of the transition cost from one configuration
to another, q0 is the parameter which varies according to
Equation (15), 0 is the pheromone initialization value and
the parameter flat counts the number of iterations for which
the algorithm does not find better solution. The parameter q0
controlling the elitism property has an adaptive behaviour
since its course depends on the value of flat. It is important to
underline that for each setting of the electrical and strategy
parameters (Rc , T, n years) the Authors have carried out a
tuning of the above reported parameters, which, neverthe-
less, remain confined in a small neighbourhood. Parameter
y, which rules the course of q0 using Eq. (15), in all ap-
plications ranges between 2 and 3 according to the desired
course of q0 . As an example, it has been observed that, as
the number of required interventions decreases, it is more
important to have higher values of q0 , namely higher values
of qbase and smaller values of y.
In Fig. 5, the course of the best-so-far solution strategy
is reported, together with the course of q0 reported for a
generic run with T = 8 and n years = 3 (8 3 strategy)
and a value of Rc of 760 /kW per year. Parameter y has
been set to 2 and parameter qbase to 0.5.
Table 1.
Branching Number Termination
(N ) of ants criterion q0
10 50 Flattening on 0.00001 2 variable
one solution
for 20 iterations
(flat = 20)
Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm 37
The usefulness of the proposed approach has been
tested by running the algorithm with fixed q0 and with
variable q0 . In the latter case, the algorithm has proved
in all the performed executions, an improved capac-
ity of exploring and of exploiting the search space,
by finding lower values of the objective function. The
differences in the objective function value, for Rc =
43.8 /kW, have been evaluated and range between 0.74%
and 8.7%, the latter value being referred to the hardest pos-
sible problem, namely T = 12 and n years = 2 (12 2
strategy) strategy. With the fixed q0 , the algorithm showed
all times premature convergence in a few iterations, whereas
with variable q0 it was able to improve the optimal solution
till the end of the run. Moreover, the effect of a lower value
of q0 on the convergence property of the algorithm consists
in the ability to find better solutions and is justified by the
possibility to explore in a wider sense.
Another interesting issue concerns the ability of the al-
gorithm to overcome local minima and find out a low cost
strategy. This characteristic must be attained by an accu-
rate calibration of the algorithms parameters. Indeed, a too
strong reinforcement of the pheromone trace at local level,
may give out misleading results in overall terms. The local
reinforcement of the pheronome trace is guided by the al-
pha parameter, as well as by the number of ants. Indeed, a
larger number of ants in the same iteration, making choices
about the paths to be followed and implementing Eq. (16)
over the trace, means a stronger pheromone information at
local level. A comparison between an optimization algo-
rithm that treats the entire strategy as optimization variable
and the proposed DACS algorithm which is a constructive
method has been carried out. On purpose a Genetic Algo-
rithm [11], suitably adapted in order to handle the considered
problem, has been implemented. In the GA implementation,
the optimization variable is composed of T substrings each
indicating the state of the installations at the n years jth
year ( j [0, T ]). The Genetic Algorithm uses a Roulette
Wheel Selection and a two points crossover. Both crossover
and mutation operators are performed in order to prevent
the generation of unfeasible solutions. It is indeed possible
that the variation of one bit randomly results in the removal
of one or more PV modules, thing which is not allowed in
the considered formulation. Considering one solution as the
entire strategy string allows to take fully into account the
mutual influence between substrings. In this way, a wide
exploration of the search space has been carried out even
though the GA proves to be unable to identify better solu-
tions than the proposed search technique.
In Fig. 6 the results obtained with the GA and with the
proposed DACS technique (Rc = 43.8 /kW) are re-
0
ported. The figure clearly indicates that as much as the
problem gets similar to a static optimization problem, the
0.2 GA performs better, this is also motivated by the fact that
in this case the search space is smaller. On the other hand,
the savings that can be attained using as optimization tech-
nique the DACS algorithm instead of a GA range between
38 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino
Figure 3. Flowchart of DACS.
the 5% and 30%, stopping both algorithms after 20 iter-
ations without improvement. These differences range be-
tween 5% and 10% if the GA is let run for a much greater
number of iterations, but with an extremely high computa-
tional effort. The following figure reports results about this
issue.
As far as the computing cost is concerned, five runs per
algorithm have been carried out in order to detect the sta-
tistical behaviour of the two algorithms. Figure 7 reports a
comparison of the two algorithms in terms of the number
of objective function evaluations necessary to get the best
solution they could attain. Again Rc has been set to 43.8
 Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm
Figure 4. Test system.
Figure 5. Course of q0 and of the overall cost of the strategy, the effect of the adaptive q0 is that to allow a larger exploration of the search space.
/kW. It must be noted that using a PC with a pentium 4
processor, 1.5 GHz, the GA took, in the best case, almost
one hour to get a solution 5% worst than that attained by
the DACS in 29 seconds. The proposed DACS algorithm is
quite efficient also in this dimension, since it reduces the
calculation time up to 98%.
In order to test robustness 50 runs of the DACS algorithm
have been carried out, with the same settings, and a small
dispersion of the results has been observed. Figure 8 indeed
shows the frequency distribution of results for the lowest
cost strategy outputted by the algorithm in the 50 runs (38
strategy, Rc = 43.8 /kW).
In Fig. 9, a portion of the search tree created by the
ants during the DACS algorithm is reported. In the figure,
the lines widths indicate the pheromone intensity, therefore
paths with low pheronome (about 0.2) are represented by
light lines, whereas higher values of pheromone are repre-
sented by wider lines. As it can be noted, the paths with
higher value of the pheronomone have a higher branching
as compared to those having a low pheromone value. This
means that the algorithm actually searches in the neigh-
bourhood of the best solutions in a more intensive way as
the iterations proceed.
39
From the electrical engineering point of view, other re-
sults can be observed. Several runs have been carried out
with different values of Rc . In particular, ranging from 43.8
/kW up to 820 /kW. More robust installations of PV
modules can be observed only after a value of Rc of 700
/kW, even though solutions with PV modules can be ob-
served starting from the minimum proposed value of 43.8
/kW, which is a realistic value.
Other runs have been carried out varying the number of
years between one intervention and the other (parameter
n years), keeping the same timeframe (24 years). In partic-
ular, the Authors have considered the parameter T ranging
from 12 to 2 and accordingly the parameter n years rang-
ing from 2 to 12 years. In this way, in what follows, for
example strategy 6 4 indicates a strategy with n years
equal to 4 and T equal to 6. In this case, the tests have been
carried out varying the frequency of interventions (type of
strategy) and varying the parameter Rc . The costs of the
strategy have been considered reporting them at the year
zero.
In Fig. 10, the course of the strategy costs as the environ-
mental benefit, Rc, varies and the different modes of inter-
vention in the considered time frame. As it can be observed,
40 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino

Figure 6. Comparison of performance GA vs. DACS, minimization of the objective function.

Figure 7. Comparison of performance GA vs. DACS, number of objective function evaluations.

the 2 12 and 3 8 strategies are the most interesting in 6. Future Developments and Conclusions
economic terms. This means that for the considered load
growth, a small number of interventions on the electrical In this paper, a new heuristic cooperative algorithm based
system is advisable. on the ACO paradigm, suitable for dynamic optimization
 Adaptive and Dynamic Ant Colony Search Algorithm
Figure 8. Frequency distribution of results of the DACS algorithm for a 3 8 strategy and Rc = 43.8
Figure 9. Portion of the search tree outputted after one run with a 3 8
strategy and Rc = 43.8 /kW.
problems, is proposed. The problem dealt with is an electri-
cal engineering problem, namely that of the reinforcement of
distribution systems using renewable sources (PhotoVoltaic
systems) together with traditional means, such as cables and
transformers.
41
/kW.
The minimum cost strategy has been therefore attained
for different values of some parameter taking into account
environmental issues. The problem, of course, results in
a non-linear, dynamic optimization problem with mixed-
integer variables. The Authors have set up an optimization
algorithm which derives from the Ant Colony Search al-
gorithm suitably adapted to treat large search spaces and
mixed integer variables. Traditional ACS algorithm was in-
deed devoted to the solution of minimum path length prob-
lems and therefore able to treat problems with a discrete
search space made of a finite number of points. In this paper,
the discretization of the search space is made step-by-step
by the ants themselves. They locally choose the best way
to follow among a given number of candidate sites that are
updated at each iteration. The authors have also introduced
an adaptive parameter q0 which suitably controls the elitism
during the search.
The algorithm has proved to be robust and to work quite
well with the proposed problem of finding the optimal rein-
forcement strategy for a distribution system.
The proposed algorithm is also a valuable tool to carry
out further studies with different renewable sources such
as biomass, wind power and fuel cells, or also a combina-
tion of these. It is also easily possible to change the times
of interventions or even make this parameter an optimiza-
tion variable. The algorithm can easily be modified to push
the research towards exploration or towards exploitation by
tuning the parameters and in a possible future development
may be the possibility to change the criterion with which
it chooses the candidate solutions. Moreover, the algorithm
can be modified in order to better keep track of the best path
42 Favuzza, Graditi and Riva Sanseverino
Figure 10. Comparison of different strategies.
found and to let the ants explore the neighbourhood of the
best path. In this way, it would be possible to improve the
precision of the best solution found.
Note
1. The TSP is the problem of finding, given a finite number of cities
along with the cost of travel between each pair of them, the cheapest
way of visiting all the cities and returning to the starting point.
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